MANILA – Fighting misinformation risks eating into the national government’s resources that would otherwise be spent on dealing with the new coronavirus that the world is trying to contain, said Manila’s former health minister who led the response to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) nearly two decades ago.
Compared to SARS, the Philippines is “better prepared” to respond to the novel coronavirus from Wuhan, China as negative pressure or isolation chambers and quarantine procedures are in place, said former health secretary Manuel Dayrit.
“Disinformation may cause public confusion, and cause wasteful deployment of resources in efforts to verify and to take corrective action,” said Dayrit, also a former dean of the Ateneo School of Medicine who served at the World Health Organization in Geneva after his stint at the Department of Health.
“The downside is that false news and maliciously-manufactured information can really confuse and scare people,” he told ABS-CBN News in an email interview.
China said Wednesday deaths due to the novel coronavirus had risen to 132 with nearly 6,000 people infected. Governments and companies around the world have warned against travel to China and readied their citizens there for possible repatriation.
Unlike during the SARS outbreak of 2002 to 2003, information on the new coronavirus is readily available, said Dayrit. In the absence of social media at that time, he hosted press briefings regularly for 2 months to keep the public updated.
The Philippines has yet to confirm any case of the pathogen that comes from the same family of viruses as SARS, authorities said Monday. However, at least 6 schools in Manila suspended classes on Monday over false online information that the capital had a coronavirus case.
“Fear of the unknown” propagates fake news on the disease, said Health Secretary Francisco Duque, who urged the public to monitor his agency’s daily advisories.
“Magtulong-tulungan tayo, hindi iyong panggalingan at magdulot tayo ng pangamba at takot… Ano bang maidudulot ng pagpapakalat ng fake news?” he told DZMM Wednesday. (ABS-CBN News)
